Healthcare Management Students Win Western Regional College Bowl
Congratulations to the 2019 Healthcare Management team of graduate students (Josue Arvayza, Diana Ghaly, Otito Odiakosa and Maurice Tut) who took first place (and $1,500 prize) in the Western Regional Healthcare Executives College Bowl Case Study Competition. With the guidance of their Professors Barry Hunt and Serj Eyvazian, and under the leadership of Dr. Andre S. Avramchuk, MS HCM Program Director, Cal State LA teams continue to outshine tough competitors from prestigious graduate schools, demonstrating the quality of our students and the Master of Science in Healthcare Management Program.
The event is a grueling test of knowledge, teamwork, and performance under pressure that few selected students are fortunate enough to experience before they graduate. Facing competition from ten reputable graduate schools within the five-state Western Region, this year’s Cal State LA team collectively dedicated hundreds of hours over three weeks in preparation for the event.
The two-round challenge requires teams to first analyze and recommend solutions to a current issue facing a regional healthcare organization. Teams with the top solutions are then advanced by the judges to compete in a second-round, which adds a new strategic challenge to the case. Teams have only 5 minutes to find and prepare to present their final solution. The judges are well-known and currently practicing C-suite executives from the healthcare industry.
Josue and Maurice (Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles) and Diana (UCLA Health) all work with local healthcare organizations, and Otito is a physician from Nigeria. Even as industry professionals, the team agreed it was a seminal experience for their future careers. They gained confidence and built lasting friendships while applying academic concepts to practice. Our Cal State LA teams have placed among the College Bowl’s top three winners in four of the past five years, often ahead of schools such as USC, UCLA, University of Arizona, Loma Linda University, and Cal State teams from Long Beach, Northridge, San Diego, or San Bernardino. Go, Golden Eagles!
The 2019 competition was held at The California Endowment in Los Angeles on April 15, 2019. For more information about the event contact Mr. Hunt at bhunt@exchange.calstatela.edu or Dr. Avramchuk at aavramc@calstatela.edu